Welcome to Medical News Today

Healthline Media, Inc. would like to process and share personal data (e.g., mobile ad id) and data about your use of our site (e.g., content interests) with our third party partners (see a current list) using cookies and similar automatic collection tools in order to a) personalize content and/or offers on our site or other sites, b) communicate with you upon request, and/or c) for additional reasons upon notice and, when applicable, with your consent.

Healthline Media, Inc. is based in and operates this site from the United States. Any data you provide will be primarily stored and processed in the United States, pursuant to the laws of the United States, which may provide lesser privacy protections than European Economic Area countries.

By clicking “accept” below, you acknowledge and grant your consent for these activities unless and until you withdraw your consent using our rights request form. Learn more in our Privacy Policy.

Please accept our privacy terms

We use cookies and similar technologies to improve your browsing experience, personalize content and offers, show targeted ads, analyze traffic, and better understand you. We may share your information with third-party partners for marketing purposes. To learn more and make choices about data use, visit our Advertising Policy and Privacy Policy. By clicking “Accept and Continue” below, (1) you consent to these activities unless and until you withdraw your consent using our rights request form, and (2) you consent to allow your data to be transferred, processed, and stored in the United States.

Get the MNT newsletter

Email an article

You have chosen to share the following article:

How elderberries can help you fight the flu

To proceed, simply complete the form below, and a link to the article will be sent by email on your behalf.Note: Please don't include any URLs in your comments, as they will be removed upon submission.

We do not store details you enter into this form. Please see our privacy policy for more information.

People often use hydrogen peroxide to treat minor cuts and scrapes, whiten teeth, or dye their hair. Some people claim that hydrogen peroxide can help cure cancer.

These claims derive from the fact that hydrogen peroxide is an oxidizing liquid, which means it gives off oxygen. Low oxygen levels can cause cancer, and some people think that exposing cancer cells to high levels of oxygen will prevent them from growing and they will die.

This type of therapy is often known as oxy medicine, oxidology, or oxidative therapy.

No current research suggests hydrogen peroxide has any effect on cancer cells. There are, however, many warnings against using it internally.

In this article, learn more about where these claims originate, what the current research says, and about the possible risks of using hydrogen peroxide as a cancer treatment.

What are the claims?

Research does not support the use of hydrogen peroxide to treat cancer.

Claims that hydrogen peroxide can treat or cure cancer date back to the early 1930s when a German doctor called Otto Heinrich Warburg discovered that cancer cells could grow successfully without oxygen.

As a result of his discovery, other researchers began to hypothesize that low oxygen levels lead to cancer development.

Some researchers believed that providing an abundance of oxygen to cancer cells might cure the cancer, so they began to look into how compounds, such as hydrogen peroxide, affected cancer cells.

Research in the mid-1900s suggested that hydrogen peroxide could have a positive effect. The scientists carried out their research on animals, and though there were some favorable results, most indicated that hydrogen peroxide had limited effects.

Still, the results of these studies were positive enough for some people to claim that hydrogen peroxide can cure cancer. Supporters of hydrogen peroxide as a cancer cure believe that food grade hydrogen peroxide, which has a concentration of 35 percent, can treat cancer better than conventional treatments, such as chemotherapy and radiation.

What does the research say?

Recent studies have shown some flaws in the early research. The biggest problem with the initial research is the hypothesis that cancer thrives without oxygen and that oxygen can hamper its growth.

Researchers now know that although cancer can survive without oxygen, it can also continue to grow in an oxygen-rich environment.

Additionally, a study published in 2011 proved that cancer cells produce hydrogen peroxide, which may help the cells to grow.

The United States Food and Drug Association (FDA) have also issued a warning to consumers about purchasing high concentrations of hydrogen peroxide. The FDA indicated that there was insufficient research to show that hydrogen peroxide is suitable for any medicinal purpose.

There are many significant potential risks and side effects of consuming hydrogen peroxide or using it for medicinal purposes.

2019 Healthline Media UK Ltd. All rights reserved. MNT is the registered trade mark of Healthline Media. Any medical information published on this website is not intended as a substitute for informed medical advice and you should not take any action before consulting with a healthcare professional.